Revised decree sets national child-abuse death review framework

The health ministry said a revised enforcement decree that took effect provides a legal basis for a special committee to examine suspected child-abuse deaths.

The changes implement amendments to the Child Welfare Act that called for detailed grounds for parental-rights petitions, stronger child-abuse case management and a mechanism for the health minister to analyze child-abuse deaths.

"This revision establishes a tighter child-protection system through national-level analysis of the causes of tragic child-abuse deaths and active public intervention for children at risk whose parents do not exercise parental rights," Eun Seong-ho, the health ministry's director general for population and social services policy, said.

The 11-to-15-member committee will be chaired by the first vice minister. It will consider plans for case analyses, the selection of cases, procedures, use of results and institutional changes to prevent recurrences. Members will include senior officials from relevant central agencies, a representative of the National Child Rights Agency and outside experts.

The ministry and the National Child Rights Agency held a meeting with legal, medical, child-welfare and social-welfare experts on July 30 to discuss the detailed case-analysis system and improvement measures ahead of the decree's implementation.

The decree also clarifies when heads of local governments or prosecutors can ask courts to terminate parental rights when a parent cannot be located or has cut off contact without cause. The grounds also cover parents who are persistently unable to handle a child's affairs because of mental limitations stemming from illness or disability.

Local governments can set up committees to determine whether cases constitute child abuse. Information on cases deemed abuse will be retained in the child information system for 20 years, while reports not classified as abuse will be held for 10 years.

"We will pursue effective abuse-prevention programs that connect the field and policy so results from analyses of suspected child-abuse deaths can help prevent preventable deaths from recurring," Kim Yu-im, head of the National Child Rights Agency, said.

Those who impose employment-related disadvantages or discrimination because someone took part in an interview or submitted information for a suspected-death review face fines of 5 million won for a first violation and 10 million won for a second.